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DEPARTMENT OF PARKS, RECREATION AND COMMUNITY RESOURCES
PARKS AND NATURAL RESOURCES DIVISION
PARK MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
PROGRAM MISSION: To promote a vibrant and enjoyable community by providing high
quality, safe, clean, attractive and environmentally sound parks, open spaces
and recreational facilities.
This is achieved by providing
park management, custodial services and light, general maintenance, which
includes: litter collection, trail maintenance, playground maintenance,
community canine area maintenance, picnic shelter maintenance, restroom
maintenance, stream maintenance, and emergency snow clearing services. This section also assists in providing
support for special events and programs for the Cultural Affairs, Recreation,
and Sports Divisions within the Department, as well as the County Fair and
other countywide events.
Biking and walking trails
continue to have the highest percentage of usage of any park or recreational
facility by households (72%) according to the recently completed Parks and
Recreation Resident Survey. Paved trail safety continues to be a focus. In addition to the routine inspection and
maintenance of the 38 miles of paved multi-use trails, this unit
concentrates its repair efforts on the most urgent safety problems. These are generally areas where drainage and
surface deterioration were identified as needing immediate attention. In
addition, this team is responsible for overseeing the $200,000 renovation of a
badly deteriorated section of the Custis Trail.
The Jail Industry crew continues
to provide vital resources to accomplish labor intensive projects in a timely
manner. Mulching of trails,
playgrounds, and other highly-impacted areas, clearing overgrown and badly
littered areas, and helping with loading and unloading of materials and
supplies are the core of the work done by this unit.
Playground safety and maintenance
continues to be a high priority. Since
most playground accidents are a result of falls to the safety surface, Parks
and Natural Resources is continuing its efforts to upgrade the safety surfaces.
The Community Canine Areas (CCA)
require continuing maintenance.
Improvements are being made to the existing CCA's to bring them into
compliance with current guidelines. The upgrade of the Towers Park CCA will be
completed in June, 2003.
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Park Management
Program
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FY 2002
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FY 2003
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FY 2004
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% Change:
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Actual
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Adopted
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Proposed
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'03 to '04
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Personnel
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$1,568,541
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$1,514,279
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$1,612,134
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6%
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Non-Personnel
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1,328,672
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1,314,374
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1,500,927
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14%
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Total Expenditures
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2,897,213
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2,828,653
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3,113,061
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10%
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|
|
|
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Fees
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-
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-
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104,077
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-
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Grants
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20,516
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35,000
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35,000
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-
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Net Tax Support
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$2,876,697
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$2,793,653
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$2,973,984
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6%
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Authorized FTEs
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35.5
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36.5
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37.5
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Funded FTEs
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35.5
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36.5
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37.5
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SIGNIFICANT BUDGET HIGHLIGHTS:
-
Increase in personnel expenditures reflects ten months
funding for the new Powhatan Springs Skate Park ($50,665, 2.0 FTE). The funding for one of these positions
($40,423, 1.0 FTE) is reallocated from the Forestry and Landscaping Program. There is also a reallocation of 1.0 FTE from
this program to the Urban Operations Initiative (UOI) program to correct the
accounting of the actual FTEs assigned to UOI.
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Increase in non-personnel is mainly due to construction
and maintenance contracts increases for mowing ($23,126), playground sand
($4,103), specially engineered playground mulch ($8,018) portable toilets
($41,237), internal vehicle charges ($35,911), ten months funding for the new
Powhatan Springs Skate Park ($39,355), and maintenance and utilities for North
Tract ($30,600).
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Increase in revenue is due to Powhatan Springs Skate
Park admission fees ($79,077) and transfer from Supplemental Fee Programs for
the rental of picnic pavilions ($25,000).
PERFORMANCE MEASURES:
Objective: To provide cost efficient open space management/maintenance and
program support at DPRCR facilities in conformance with safety and maintenance
standards.
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FY
2001
Actual
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FY 2002
Actual
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FY 2003
Estimate
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FY
2004
Estimate
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FY
2004
Target
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Mission Outcome Measures
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Percent of comfort station custodial services completed per standard
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65%
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70%
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98%
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98%
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98%
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Percent of playground custodial services
completed per standard
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65%
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75%
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80%
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80%
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80%
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Percent of paved trail receiving custodial
services completed per standard
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50%
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50%
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50%
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50%
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50%
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Percent of refuse collection completed per
standard
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65%
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60%
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65%
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65%
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65%
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Percent of picnic shelters receiving custodial
services completed per standard
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55%
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55%
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60%
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60%
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70%
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Percent of special events support
completed per standard
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NA
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99%
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99%
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99%
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100%
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Workload Measures
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Total open space acres maintained
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1,165
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1,169
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1,194
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1,201
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1,201
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Community park acres maintained
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718
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720
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745
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752
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752
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Neighborhood park acres maintained
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254
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255
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255
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256
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256
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Natural Resource open space acres maintained
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184
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184
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184
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185
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185
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Urban open space acres maintained
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7
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7
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8
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8
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8
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Park shelters serviced
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42
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43
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44
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47
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47
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Comfort stations serviced
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23
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23
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23
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24
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24
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Playgrounds serviced
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74
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74
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73
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73
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73
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Paved trail miles serviced
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36
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36.5
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38
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39
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39
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Community Special Events supported
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N/A
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19
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19
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20
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20
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Increased funding was made available in FY 2002
for improved park custodial services in high priority areas including
restrooms, and playgrounds. Gains in
performance were realized during the second half of FY 2002, with full
year gains in FY 2003.
FUTURE BUDGET CONSIDERATIONS:
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When the upgrades to the Towers Park Community Canine
Area (CCA) are completed in the spring of 2003, all seven CCAs will be in
compliance with the guidelines. Where approved, future improvements will
include modest lighting to allow for the use of the CCAs in the winter
months. Currently all but one of them
are closed in the winter months during the early morning and late afternoon /
early evening times when most people are interested in using them. In addition, dust and soil compaction
problems will necessitate improving watering and drainage capabilities.
- Aging
infrastructure and increased park usage will necessitate increased maintenance
and the replacement of park amenities such as park benches, litter receptacles,
drinking fountains, kiosks, and retaining walls.
- There is an increasing demand on PRCR to allow overnight parking
in certain lots at our facilities. Park
Management is working with the Traffic Engineering Division of DPW to determine
the best way to accommodate the after hours use of the future Barcroft parking
structure. In addition, Park Management
is working on a pilot project to allow overnight parking on one of the Barcroft
Park surface lots. The lighting and security as well as the maintenance and management
of this lot are all issues being explored.
A draft memorandum of understanding is being developed to clarify the
duties and responsibilities of the user group.
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As concern for the protection of our watershed
increases, Park Management will work with Department of Environmental Services
and others to increase our efforts to protect and maintain the County's streams
and stream banks. The costs are not yet
known, but any increased effort in this area will have some impact on the cost
of recurring operations.
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Additional land/property acquisitions and development
need to be accompanied by increases in annual operating budgets to cover
expenses due to increased use of parks.
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